Applications for Council traineeships now open
September is a good month for forward planning and setting goals for the future. We come back from our summer holidays full of energy and projects for the future. At least that is how I feel after spending my holidays traveling around Portugal, visiting Dublin, and going to amazing concerts (not to brag, but I got to see Iron Maiden live!). September is also the month when MA students in several countries in the EU hand in their extended translations or dissertations, get ready for the graduation ceremony and seriously and concretely make plans for their future (be it short-term or long-term).
Two years ago, in September 2016, I was handing in my MA project and at the same time setting up my business as a freelance translator. I also knew I had a different, let's say parallel, goal and desire: completing a traineeship at an EU institution in order to get first-hand experience of the work EU translators carry out. That's when I applied for a traineeship at the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU. I still remember finding out I had been accepted: the confirmation email arrived a couple of weeks before the winter holidays and it was the perfect Christmas gift. My traineeship started on the 1st of February and lasted for five intense months. After that, I stayed at the Council as a translator, where I am still working on a temporary contract.
The traineeship experience was extremely enriching from a professional and personal point of view. Now that the application period for the first session of Council traineeships in 2019 (February-June) is open, I would encourage recent graduates to consider this opportunity if they would like to work as in-house translators in a highly professional translation service, hone their translation and proofreading skills, learn more about the EU, and meet fellow trainees from all over Europe.
For more information about the traineeships at the Council, have a look at this link which has a list of FAQs. If you are curious to learn more about what tasks translation trainees carry out, have a look at a previous article I wrote for Apertis Verbis. You can submit your application at this link before noon (Brussels time) on the 28th September. I hope I will see you when the next trainee cohort arrives to the Council next February. In the meantime, good luck!
